World Series Of Poker 2009 Already Has Players

Some poker sites are already gearing up for the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP), despite the fact that the 2008 Series has yet to crown a winner.  Thanks to a bunch of Mini Series promotions, three online poker players have been awarded seats to next year’s Main Event with BodogLife.  And it hasn’t even been scheduled yet!  The online poker room usually has a good showing of sponsored players at the annual event and by starting early they are making sure that next year is the same way.
Bodog ran a Mini Series that was comprised of 25 tournaments through its poker site.  The Texas Hold’Em events mirrored those that were ongoing at the WSOP 2008 in Las Vegas, except the online games had buy-ins that were 1% of the buy-ins being charged in Vegas.  The last game of the Mini-Series was an invitational tournament that awarded the three seats to the 2009 WSOP to the winners.  This was played after the Mini Series Main Event and the prize packages are worth $12,000 a piece.

‘pokerfanx789’, ‘dudix’, and ‘Boswan’ were the winners, taking down 24 other players that entered Bodog’s Mini Series.  The VIP packages include the $10,000 Main Event buy-in for the 2009 WSOP as well as travel and accommodation expenses.  “Team Bodog players had an amazing run at this year's WSOP in Las Vegas and we're already gearing up for next summer by awarding three seats to the 2009 Main Event,” stated Alwyn Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Morris Mohawk Gaming Group.  “The three winners of our Mini Series are guaranteed an experience like no other in Las Vegas as they compete for a shot at poker stardom and millions of dollars.”

18 of the 27 players that were competing for the 2009 WSOP seats had competed in Bodog’s Mini Series events before coming in as semi-final qualifiers.  5 of those 18 were from wild-card drawings and had competed previously in at least 3 of Bodog’s previous Mini Series.
Five players sponsored by Bodog came away from the WSOP 2008 with cash earnings.  The players were: William Soffin with $38,600; Evelyn Ng with $35,383; Magnus Petersson with $32,166; Adam Grovenstein with $23,160; and Ryan Monastyrski with $21,230.